


Them Grey Eyes On The Subway

by Snorp_Lord



Series: We Have Nothing to Lose and a World to See [4]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Brief mentions of an injury, M/M, Nines doesn't like crowds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25687408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snorp_Lord/pseuds/Snorp_Lord
Summary: (Title from The Shins' Rifle Spiral)Nines hates taking the subway, but it's easier with Gavin there.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: We Have Nothing to Lose and a World to See [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137977
Comments: 4
Kudos: 74





	Them Grey Eyes On The Subway

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cato_universe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cato_universe/gifts).



> Honestly cannot thank cato_universe enough, their amazing touch-starved Nines fic gave me life, watered my crops and cleared my skin-

The first time Nines realised something could be wrong with him was when he’d been forced to take the subway for the first time. He’d never been forced into such a crowded environment before, not even when they were investigating nightclubs and bars in a string of red ice android homicides. There was a lot more noise than he expected. A lot more lights, beaming above and streaking past and illuminating the faces of bored passengers.

Crucially, there were a lot more people. All the seats were taken when they’d gotten on, so Nines and Gavin were forced to stand, as close to the driver’s carriage as they could get. Gavin was leaning against the wall with an impossibly casual air about him, phone in one hand but not really absorbing much of his attention. Meanwhile Nines was pressing himself back against it, forcing his LED to remain yellow instead of the bright red it should have been. Everything about it just had him so tense. The air was hovering between sixty and sixty five percent humidity, with no way to open a window or turn on air conditioning. His fans were whirring louder than they should be, though thankfully muffled by his dress shirt and thick polymer Cyberlife jacket. People were making a low level of noise, between music leaking from cheap headphones and quiet conversations and chewing gum and thumbs clicking on game consoles and it was  _ driving him crazy. _

“Hey. Tincan. Your headlamp’s going nuts. Something up?”

Yes. Absolutely everything. Everything was off despite nothing being really wrong in a sense he should care about. “No, Gavin. Just reviewing what we have so far. I did not mean to cause concern. Is everything alright?”

His face screwed up slightly, eyes narrowing, and he knew Gavin wasn’t buying it for a second. It was the same look he got when a suspect mentioned ‘just being at home in bed’ when a murder took place. The last look he needed right now when he was struggling as it was to keep himself on task. 

“Yeah, sure it is. Peachy.” Thankfully Gavin was content to leave it alone for the time being. Probably focused on their case, a mysterious person who was choosing victims on subway trains, only to have their bodies show up around the city later within the same week. Nobody was sure how it was being done, but the most disappearances had been on the two stations closest to Gavin’s home, so the pair of them had been chosen to work the case. And Gavin’s chosen means was to watch the same damn subway line for hours and hours every day until Nines just wanted to slam the emergency stop button. “You’re not, though. Something’s up with you.”

A small red warning window popped up in the middle of his vision. Something about proximity of another heat signature. Someone bumped into him in their hurry to get off the train. That was what he got for standing near the door. “I assure you, I am fine.”

Then there were several warnings. 

Heat warnings.

Processor usage suboptimal.

Loss of thirium.

“Oh phuck- NINES!” The concerned expression came closer to him, lines cutting deeper into Gavin’s face, and then Gavin’s arms were holding him closer. 

“There is no need for concern, Gavin. You do not need to shout. I am merely having an error display issue, I can resolve that later with a quick reboot.”

“Phuckin...Look at this!” The detective pulled one hand away and shoved it in the android’s face, palm and fingers covered with bright blue color.  Alcian Blue 8GX. Dye commonly used in thirium for androids, albeit more diluted. Thirium for the RK900 line was the only visual feature meant to differentiate them from other androids, the dye persisting, even as the rest of it evaporated away. Something to do with making injuries obvious. Nines hadn’t paid much attention to that part of the design manual. 

“NINES! Nines, look at me! We gotta get out of here, come on!” Gavin shoved his way through the crowds and slammed on the door button to get him off the train immediately. “Bastard. Bastard does it with a hit and run, stabs ‘em before they can get off and drags them off, leaves ‘em if anyone helps out...Shit.” 

“Gavin.”

“Only place in the fucking world you could get away with stabbing someone in a crowded subway, what the fuck is wrong with people these days?” He was spiralling, as he often did when he was struggling to scrape together his thoughts.

“Gavin, I am not hurt that badly. Look at me. Do you see me panicking? No.” Nines took one of Gavin’s hands off his arm, taking advantage of the way the detective was less averse to physical contact when he was highly stressed. “I was built to take much worse than this. It punctured a smaller thirium line. We can proceed  _ calmly  _ to a Cyberlife store and have them repair it, alright? There is no need for you to panic.”

A few silent seconds passed. Then suddenly Gavin was the one pulling his arm, and Nines couldn’t help but go along as he was yanked into a corner with relative privacy. “You got  _ stabbed. _ What was I supposed to think?!”

Ah. Of course. Being damaged was still less than optimal. More so since it was a knife involved, and he knew from the file he’d been sent before starting at the DPD that Gavin’s most prominent scar was from a knife pulled during a bar fight in 2022, and that Gavin had spent two years assigned to a knife crimes unit, which was  _ why  _ he was in the bar to begin with. Furthermore, the serial killer had targeted both humans and androids, meaning they were willing to kill androids too.

But why was Gavin bothering with this? The detective’s hand was still gripping his jacket, thirium collecting under his hands as the waterproof fabric wouldn’t absorb it. Having his question unanswered seemed to be making it worse.

“I was made for military work. It’s very lucky on his part that he even found an area he could stab. Most of my chassis is covered by armor plating. He caught an area where it splits for ventilation purposes-” 

“Shut up!”

Nines’ jaw snapped shut. After a few seconds, he tilted his head, unsure of how to proceed. Gavin was still tense even knowing he was fine, wound tight like a spring. Some unreadable emotion seemed to have taken over his face. From the way his eyebrows were furrowed, Nines was inclined to think it was anger, but his lip was caught between his teeth, which was something he only did when he was nervous or thinking, and his hands were balled into fists. So many clashing cues. “I do not mean to cause distress, Detective Reed. I only meant to assure you I am not badly hurt.”

“How come you didn’t notice?”

_ Ah.  _ How to explain that?

How to explain that he’d been so uncomfortable he’d nearly slammed the stop button or wrenched open the doors just to escape from a busy train? Not to mention that he doubted he could continue working as he did if he revealed that busy areas took up so much processing power. He’d been designed for war, after all, where taking note of everything around him and reacting to any potential danger was beneficial. Being tense and alert just from having people close to him wouldn’t help now that the RK900s weren’t being used for constant combat. 

“Tincan! Phuck’s sake, don’t go on standby now, asshole!” Gavin was shaking him. Hands gripping his upper arms and shaking him. Silence always seemed to bother the detective, but why was Gavin so focused on him-

_ Concern. _

...That was the emotion written all over his face. The thing he couldn’t quite puzzle out before. Concern that fed into his anger, and his worry, and his tension. Humans were complex like that. His prior experience with knives meant any mention of stabbing already made him tense. They were dealing with an active serial  _ killer,  _ someone who would kill Nines if given the means.

“Were you worried about me, Gavin?” His tone was soft, and he’d be surprised if Gavin heard it over the bustle of the crowd. “I am not in any serious danger. I was simply distracted by the people around us. It’s...something I can explain later.”

“You were  _ bleeding _ , asshole. What was I supposed to think? You’re bleeding now. Didn’t tell me you were a tank too,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood. Nines hardly blamed him. The tension was almost physically heavy between them. “Let’s just...get you to the damn Barbie store so you’re not getting your blue shit all over the place. C’mon. Stick close. Don’t wanna freak people out, right?”

Despite his obvious discomfort, Reed laid one hand over the wound to cover it. Partly to guide Nines through the swarms of people. “Not a word. You hear me? If plastic prick 1.0 or Greybeard find out about this I’ll pull out your wires and make Christmas decorations,” he grumbled. 

“Understood, Detective Reed. Not a word.”

He wasn’t exactly sure, but Nines had to admit...making his way through the crowd felt a lot easier with Gavin’s hand guiding him through it.


End file.
